Czechoslovakia: Not Far from Novotný

In the face of Czechoslovakia's
steadily sagging economy and its even limper national morale,
Communist Party Boss Gustav Husak last week decided that the time was
ripe for a good pep talk. Before 700 workers at the Skoda auto works in
Pilsen, he admitted: "Quite a lot of people are falling into some sort
of depression. They are spreading panicky moods, as if our state and
all of our society were facing some sort of bankruptcy from which there
is no way out." Husak thereupon assured his listeners that he would be...